Tanfield Regulatory News (TAN)

15 Apr 2008 07:00

Tanfield Group PLC15 April 2008 THE TANFIELD GROUP PLC LAUNCH OF NEW ZERO-EMISSION ELECTRIC VEHICLES IN COLLABORATION WITH FORD Tanfield's trading division, Smith Electric Vehicles, today launches the SmithAmpere, a new product aimed at the light van sector. Ampere, which utilises theFord Transit Connect chassis, and will be joint branded Ford and Smith, wasdesigned and developed by Tanfield in collaboration with Ford. Both Ford andSmith Electric Vehicles will officially unveil Ampere on their respective standsat the Commercial Vehicle Show in Birmingham, UK, today at 10am. Ampere is a pioneering pure electric vehicle in its class. It is aimed at urbanoperators using large fleets of light vans, in sectors such as postal andcourier, utilities and telecommunications. It has a gross vehicle weight of2,340kg, with payload capacity of up to 800kg. Ampere has a range in excess of 100 miles on one battery charge and a top speedof up to 70mph. It is powered by a 50 kilowatt electric motor and an IronPhosphate lithium-ion battery pack. This is a new drive train and battery andwas developed specifically for Ampere. Ford has already announced that it will launch the Transit Connect in NorthAmerica and recently unveiled a taxi cab variant. Tanfield will concurrentlylaunch the Ampere for sale in the USA. . The Company today also launches the Faraday mark II, specifically aimed at NorthAmerica. Ford will supply a range of chassis for Faraday commercial vehicleswith a gross vehicle weight of up to 13,000kg. Tanfield will commencemanufacture of the first of these new products for North America in the secondhalf of 2008. Tanfield has reached a broad agreement with Ford to collaborate on future zeroemission vehicle projects and is investigating further opportunities in sales,marketing and product development both in Europe and North America. Darren Kell, Chief Executive of The Tanfield Group Plc, said: "The launch ofAmpere brings leading edge zero-emission technology to the light van sector forthe first time. "Our relationship with Ford in North America will provide Smith with highquality chassis that will be recognisable to, and readily accepted by Americancustomers. "Today's product launches will significantly increase the addressable market forour electric vehicles and are a major step towards our goal of offering a fullglobal range of zero emission commercial vehicles, from light vans to mediumduty trucks." Steve Kimber, Head of Commercial Vehicles for Ford of Britain, said: "As the UKmarket leader in commercial vehicles, it makes sound business sense for us tofully engage with the market leader in commercial electric vehicles. "The Transit and Transit Connect are Europe-wide success stories for Ford.Demand for zero emission vehicles is growing exponentially as the battery anddrive line technology improve their performance. Ford's collaboration withTanfield places us in pole position to fully exploit this opportunity." Contacts The Tanfield Group Plc Tel: +44(0)845 1557 755 Darren Kell, Chief Executive Charles Brooks, Finance Director Fishburn Hedges Tel: +44(0)20 7839 4321 Morgan Bone Mob: +44(0) 7767 622 967 tanfield@fishburn-hedges.co.uk Cenkos Securities plc Tel: +44(0)20 7397 8900 Stephen Keys St. Helen's Capital plc Tel: +44(0)20 7628 5582 Ruari McGirr Notes to Editors Ampere and Faraday II join the existing successful Smith product range, whichincludes Edison and Newton. Both Edison and Newton have a top speed of 50mph anda range on one battery charge in excess of 100 miles. Newton is the world's largest pure electric truck, offered in GVWs from 7,500kgto 12,000kg. Based on the Ford Transit chassis cab, Edison, which is also jointbranded, is the world's first pure electric van with a GVW of under 3,500kg -critical as it can be driven by anyone with a standard UK driving licence. Smith Electric Vehicles today also launches new versions of both vehiclespowered by Iron Phosphate lithium-ion battery packs. For the first time, thisgives Edison parity with the conventional Transit when it comes to cubiccarrying capacity, because lithium-ion can be packaged more intelligently aroundthe Transit chassis than the incumbent Sodium Nickel Chloride batterytechnology. Ford has recently launched a larger version of Transit with a 4,600kg GrossVehicle Weight, to accommodate certain applications that require greater payloadthan a sub-3,500kg vehicle will allow. Thanks to Tanfield's collaboration withFord Europe and the significant engineering resource Ford has provided, theCompany is already able to offer a 4,600kg Edison based on this new chassis. The Commercial Vehicle Show also marks the launch of a minibus Edison derivativewith 15 seats. The minibus is in the final stages of pre-production and customerdeliveries will commence later this calendar year. The minibus is also poweredby the new, under-slung lithium-ion battery pack. Full European production ofAmpere and the Edison minibus will begin later in 2008. ENDS This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange